Interviewee: Mr Khalid
Abdlrahman: Alslam Alykum,. With us here Mr. Khalid from Autism
Center. We would like to ask you a number of questions about Autism and conversational
properties. First, what does conversation mean in Autism?
Mr. Khalid: conversation is part of language and communicate to
children with autism; whether it is expressive language, receptive language or
conversation in general in which the child understands the message he is being
told and can deliver the message he needs to us and that would be the meaning
of conversation. Also, conversation can be verbal by talking or non-verbal by
using gestures, pictures or any way for a child to communicate with.
Abdlrahman: I have another question, what are the programs followed
for developing language and communication for students in the center?
Mr. Khalid Here at the center we follow programs that are
recognized internationally. The most popular programs is TEACCH Program, LOVAAS
Program, and PECS program. The PECS program allows communicating via picture
using a notebook that includes pictures of the child’s daily interests and
through the notebook the child can communicate by selecting the picture or even
create a sentence using a number of pictures like “I would like to use the
restroom” or “I would like to eat” and with this I can understand what he wants
using pictures.
We also have another program
that uses software, which we use to create educational tools for the students
like the examples you see on the wall that we created using a program called
board maker. This program is similar to Photoshop but is easy and fast to use
which suits the teacher or the child’s guardian to work on.
Abdlrahman: The third question is what are the similar problems
between children with autism?
Mr. Khalid: We all can
notice that children with autism are not similar to each other. One would have
some communication skills while another doesn’t have any, but we can say that
they all could have three similar problems. It could be that one child has
better skills in these fields than another but they all almost have these
similar problems. The first problem is communicating; in which the child cannot
deliver the message he wants. The second problem is imagining where he cannot
imagine what he hears. The third problem is interacting, wherein he cannot
interact with the people around him or the children playing in the playground
with him.
Abdlrahman: What is the role of technology in facilitating
communication and language for children with autism?
Mr. Khalid: In the last few years, technology played a big role in
developing tools that helps children with autism. There are a lot of companies
that are developing software and tools that help children to communicate in an
easy, smooth and fun way with others. An example of these tools is a device
that records voice messages that like “Alslam Alykum” to familiarize him with
this message and teach him to reply to such message. We also use this device to help him learn the
names of his classmates like “What is our name?” and when he clicks on his
picture, he hears his name and start learning all his classmates’ names.
Abdlrahman: Thank you Mr. Khalid.
Mr. Khalid: Thank you and pleasure meeting you.
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